Comments/Questions on RAIL SEIS due July 22- here is mine sent in today: Subject: Comments on the Honolulu Rail Project Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) Mr. Grabauskas and Mr. Matley: Before commenting on the (SEIS), the antecedence of how we got here needs to be highlighted. FACT: The Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization (OMPO) in 2003 approved of a Pearl Harbor Emphasis as a viable model to the relief sought for the H-1 Freeway Corridor that included a bridge and tunnel option. In 2005, Mayor Mufi Hanneman unilaterally removed and omitted the Pearl Harbor Concept /Emphasis from all scoping, city legislation, and public hearing process when the debate to pursue Act 247 (Hawaii Session Laws 2005) transpired. CONCLUSION: Henceforth, the draft EIS that was advanced from the onset was skewed, flawed, and a product contrived in bad faith. Minimal property acquisition would be needed through the ocean as a tunnel or over Pearl Harbor via a bridge in comparison to the elevated fixed guideway route as is currently defined. The public was denied the ability to illustrate the superiority of the ocean tunnel and bridge options in comparison to the rail option and denied the right to examine the work of OMPO that approved the Pearl Harbor Emphasis. FACT: Act 247 (HSL 2005) discriminated against any county having a population over 500,000 from approving a General Excise Tax increase for highway technology. Kauai, Hawaii, and Maui counties could impose a GET surcharge to advance highway technology, but the City and County of Honolulu could not use a GET surcharge for highway technology. CONCLUSION: The City and County of Honolulu acted in bad faith by purporting in scoping meetings and schemata presented to the public in the pursuit of producing the draft EIS, that a Managed Lane Concept / Option – via highway technology was available to the public. The city offered at scoping meetings a Managed Lane option over rail if we wanted it. This was deceitful, for the managed lane option could not be implemented with the GET surcharge. The public was mislead- like a loss leader to get us to the meetings since we were starving for traffic relief. Then the bait and switch took place- that highway technology was an option for purchase when it actually was never for sale. All we could buy was Steel Wheels on Steel Rails. The city displayed in the storefront window- Managed Lanes, and truly 21st century rail such as Monorail and Urban Maglev for sale…but the only product available on the shelves, was Steel Wheels on Steel Rails. FACT: The City lied to the public that Urban Maglev and Monorail technologies are proprietary. CONCLUSION: In order to get a lock on Steel Wheels on Steel Rails, the city had to stack the deck. Out of the 18 or so names provided by Mayor Mufi Hannemann to the City Council so the council could chose from that list to formulate an alternative analysis panel consisting of five persons, not one name, not one choice provide on the list by Mayor Hanneman had expertise in Urban Maglev technology. Thus, when 4 out of 5 members on the alternative analysis panel dismissed Urban Maglev and Monorail technologies in favor of their allegiance and alliance to Steel Wheels on Steel Rails, the public got sold out. The majority of that panel made their living by pitching steel rail and they could not make money or profiteer, nor could their affiliates, if they picked the more advanced technology being Urban Maglev. THE SEIS- in general terms, needs to be aborted altogether. While serving on the Honolulu City Council, I introduced RESOLUTION 11-258 – see link pasted below to access- (www4.honolulu.gov/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-117004/6b1p_r3v.pdf). This reso was to start anew, to deploy an open, fair, and honest examination of true traffic relief options. The resolution was not afforded a hearing- since out of the nine members on the City Council at the time, eight of them favored pursuing the current rail plan- I as the ninth member, was the only holdout advocating for a new EIS. And here is why- some text in resolution reads: URGING THE MAYOR AND THE HONOLULU AUTHORITY FOR RAPID TRANSPORTATION TO PREPARE A NEW ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE CITY’S TRANSIT PROJECT. WHEREAS, on March 15, 2007, with respect to the Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project (“transit project”), the City and the Federal Transit Administration (“FTA”) published a Notice of Intent (“NOI”) to prepare a draft environmental impact statement (“DEIS”) for high-capacity transit improvements in the Leeward corridor of Honolulu, Hawaii (Federal Register, Vol. 72, No. 50, Pages12254- 12257); and WHEREAS, the NOI states the following: “The draft EIS would consider five distinct transit technologies: Light rail transit, rapid rail transit, rubber-tired guided vehicles, a magnetic levitation system, and a monorail system.” (Federal Register, Vol. 72, No. 50, Page 12256); and WHEREAS, on November 2, 2008, the city released the DEIS, which does not evaluate the five transit technologies noted in the NOI; and WHEREAS, the failure to evaluate all five technology options in the DEIS as stated in the NOI conflicts with the intent of the federal notice and calls into question whether the DEIS is in compliance with the provisions of the National Environmental Protection Act; and WHEREAS, on June 14, 2010, the city released the final environmental impact statement (“FEIS”), which likewise does not evaluate the five technology options and notes, “The system will use steel-wheel-on-steel-rail technology” (FEIS, p. S-i). A video of 7th Graders at Ewa Makai Middle School wanting another vote- and supporting alternatives to steel wheels: youtube/watch?v=QMz-0a1YNt4 A video of a Town Hall Meeting exposing the superiority of Urban Maglev and Monorail technology to Steel Wheel Rail: youtube/watch?v=VPuFe0AmauU Two videos capturing City Council hearings - MAP 21 that heralds BRT as more affordable than rail and the deceit of denying Urban Maglev from the EIS: youtube/watch?v=29BB4-OUAl8 *** youtube/watch?v=fxKs9WTyxsE - MAGLEV JUSTIFIED SPEECH NOTE: In 2012 Congress and the President passed a law that gave power and authority for the FTA to reclassify the definition of elevated fixed guideways. Now, fixed guideways can include highway technology- such as Bus Rapid Transit. Yet, the City and County of Honolulu refuses to hold a public hearing on the new law so the public can weigh in on the superior technology of BRT of which can be attained at a lesser price. Please be cognizant, that in 2002, the City and County of Honolulu concluded in a study, that BRT beats rail on all fronts. PLEA: An injunction is warranted to stop the current rail project.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 03:44:26 +0000
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